


sudoku

by PaintedVanilla



Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Domestic Bliss, F/M, Married Couple, Sudoku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 13:40:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13548486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaintedVanilla/pseuds/PaintedVanilla
Summary: James is playing sudoku; he’s always been very good at it.





	sudoku

Dolley watches James silently from across the table; he has his reading glasses on, and she thinks he looks adorable. Glasses and his hair with grey patches peppered in and his frown lines that match her own. She loves him very much.

He’s playing sudoku; he’s always been very good at it. Dolley herself has never been any good at numbers, but she admires how he pauses after writing something down to look at the paper thoughtfully. He takes a long time between putting numbers down. He’s confident enough to do it in pen. Dolley finds the practice fascinating.

After a long and comfortable silence shared between them, James finally notices she’s watching him, “What?” he asks, looking up from the puzzle.

Dolley shrugs, “I just think you’re cute.”

James blushes, “You’re cute.” he mumbles, looking back down at the puzzle.

“Why do you take so long?” Dolley asks, and James looks at her again.

“At sudoku?” he asks, and she nods, “It’s a puzzle.”

“They’re easy.” Dolley says.

James, knowing Dolley has a lot of issues reading and working with numbers, raises his eyebrows, “Do you know how to play sudoku?” he asks.

“Yes.” Dolley says.

James slides the book across the table to her, “Okay.” he says, handing her the pen, “finish my puzzle.”

“Of course.” Dolley says, and immediately starts writing down numbers.

James is immensely impressed for a moment when she finishes the puzzle he was working on in no time, and then moves onto the next one and finishes that one, too. He watches her fill in multiple grids for a moment, before he realizes she’s just writing down random numbers. She finishes one more puzzle then slides the book and then pen back towards him, “I’m faster.” she says confidently.

It dawns on James that she’s being serious. He looks at her work; none of the puzzles have been done correctly. He hesitates to tell her, though. Even though she’s been better since therapy, he worries she’ll still feel bad for being cocky. For doing five of the puzzles wrong, and in pen. 

He figures a number puzzle isn’t going to be too big of a deal in their marriage; how many more times could this possibly come up before one of them dies? He doesn’t have to tell her she’s wrong. 

“You are faster.” he says finally, and she smiles, which makes him smile.


End file.
